Egmont eBook

comrade fall beside him in the battlefield. But
towards you, carried downwards by the stream, shall
float the corpses of citizens, of children, of maidens,
till, aghast with horror, you shall no longer know
whose cause you are defending, since you shall see
those, for whose liberty you drew the sword, perishing
around you. And what will be your emotions when
conscience whispers, “It was for my own safety
that I drew it “?

Orange. We are not ordinary men, Egmont.
If it becomes us to sacrifice ourselves for thousands,
it becomes us no less to spare ourselves for thousands.

Egmont. He who spares himself becomes an object
of suspicion ever to himself.

Orange. He who is sure of his own motives can,
with confidence, advance or retreat.

Egmont. Your own act will render certain the
evil that you dread.

Orange. Wisdom and courage alike prompt us to
meet an inevitable evil.

Egmont. When the danger is imminent the faintest
hope should be taken into account.

Orange We have not the smallest footing left; we are
on the very brink of the precipice.

Egmont. Is the king’s favour on ground
so narrow?

Orange. Not narrow, perhaps, but slippery.

Egmont. By heavens! he is belied. I cannot
endure that he should be so meanly thought of!
He is Charles’s son, and incapable of meanness.

Orange. Kings of course do nothing mean.

Egmont. He should be better known.

Orange. Our knowledge counsels us not to await
the result of a dangerous experiment.

Egmont. No experiment is dangerous, the result
of which we have the courage to meet.

Orange. You are irritated, Egmont.

Egmont. I must see with my own eyes.

Orange. Oh that for once you saw with mine!
My friend, because your eyes are open, you imagine
that you see. I go! Await Alva’s arrival,
and God be with you! My refusal to do so may
perhaps save you. The dragon may deem the prey
not worth seizing, if he cannot swallow us both.
Perhaps he may delay, in order more surely to execute
his purpose; in the meantime you may see matters in
their true light. But then, be prompt! Lose
not a moment! Save,—­oh, save yourself!
Farewell!—­Let nothing escape your vigilance:—­how
many troops he brings with him; how he garrisons the
town; what force the Regent retains; how your friends
are prepared. Send me tidings—­Egmont-

Egmont. What would you?

Orange (grasping his hand). Be persuaded!
Go with me!

Egmont. How! Tears, Orange!

Orange. To weep for a lost friend is not unmanly.

Egmont. You deem me lost?

Orange. You are lost! Consider! Only
a brief respite is left you. Farewell.

[Exit.

Egmont (alone). Strange that the thoughts of
other men should exert such an influence over us.
These fears would never have entered my mind; and
this man infects me with his solicitude. Away!
’Tis a foreign drop in my blood! Kind nature,
cast it forth! And to erase the furrowed lines
from my brow there yet remains indeed a friendly means.